Left hooks floor Sri Lanka: Suthar and Jadeja share seven wickets to hand India a healthy 178-run lead despite Dinusha’s century

Test cricket is a game of fascinating contrasts, and the first India-Sri Lanka Test match at Galle revealed plenty of them. At times, the change was sharp and unpredictable, not dissimilar to the weather, which could be scorching sunshine one moment and a wall of rain the next. At others, it was a slow burn, but even in those passages of play it was all entertainment.

India continued to dominate the game, but it was not one-way traffic. After only four balls on the third morning, Indian bowlers got to work, and the new Kookaburra combined with morning freshness ensured that they were in business. Nishan Madushka nibbled at a ball from Mohammed Siraj that could have been left alone, opening the door for Manav Suthar to do his thing. Suthar has already caused considerable excitement in Indian cricket circles because his method is a throwback to less frenetic times.

Suthar has an easy, repeatable action and accuracy is his first aim. At a time when slow bowlers are sending down bouncers because their mystery balls have been decoded, Suthar goes back to the basics. The combination of loop, bounce and turn is all he relies on.


It was enough to trouble Dinesh Chandimal. Suthar’s first delivery was tossed up, with enough revs to drop sharply and extract purchase from the surface, and the edge was gobbled up by Rishabh Pant. Lahiru Udara was drawn into a shot by a ball that dropped short, but once again there was enough bounce to defeat the stroke, with the ball being sliced to the fielder at point.

Kuldeep Yadav interrupted Suthar’s flow when Kamindu Mendis came down the wicket and chipped to the off side, only to see Shubman Gill fly across and take a brilliant one-handed catch.

Ravindra Jadeja, perhaps not too chuffed at not being the first left-arm orthodox spinner introduced into the attack, got into the act with geometric precision, slanting the ball into Dhananjaya de Silva and getting it to break away and take the edge. At 90 for 5, Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel.

Just as the weather had defied predictions, Sri Lanka’s innings bucked linearity. Just when India appeared well placed to run through the home team, Sonal Dinusha and Niroshan Dickwella got to work. The two left-handers employed a simple method, relentlessly working the ball into the gaps and denying the spinners the chance to settle on a line or a plan of attack.

The seam of the Kookaburra had flattened and with it the bite of the morning had disappeared. For 146 runs, Dinusha and Dickwella feasted. When their plans yielded no results, India’s slow bowlers were guilty of drifting onto the pads too often, making working ones and twos riskfree while also bringing the sweep into play.

India had begun well and then collapsed. Sri Lanka did the opposite. In their different trajectories, both teams showed that it was possible to come good on this surface. Dickwella, whose selection after three years in the wilderness was met with scepticism, answered critics with 80 while Dinusha went one better, reaching his maiden Test hundred. The two had ensured that the followon was not a factor.

At the end of the day, though, India could not have been unhappy. If Suthar (4 for 76) was classical, Jadeja (3 for 57) was clinical, and between them they ensured that India had a first-innings lead of 178 when clouds blew off the sea to call an early end to the day’s play.

Jadeja may have been overshadowed by his junior counterpart in terms of returns, but he had brought up the milestone of 350 wickets. This made him only the fourth player in the history of the game to complete the double of 4000 runs and 350 wickets, after Kapil Dev, Daniel Vettori and Ian Botham. Jadeja does not always get the credit he deserves, but he has been the backbone of this Indian team’s rise and rise. When you consider the fact that he spent the early part of his career primarily as a bowler, the runs he has scored, becoming a genuine Test allrounder, are all the more remarkable.

It would take a brave, or foolhardy, person to predict how this Test will unfold from here on, but there’s little doubt that India hold all the aces. They will keep an eye on the weather when shaping their plans with the bat in the full knowledge that they will be bowling last on a surface that gives and gives.

BRIEF SCORES: India 462 (Padikkal 167, Rahul 82, Jurel 51; Jayasuriya 4/109) lead Sri Lanka 284 (Dinusha 100, Dickwella 80; Suthar 4/76, Jadeja 3/57) trail by 178 runs